Talking About Art: The Elements and Principles of Art, Color Schemes, and Useful Vocabulary
Elements of Art: the tools, basic components, or building blocks that artists use when creating art. Elements are used to create the principles of art (see below).
Color: an element of art made up of three qualities: hue, the color name, e.g., red, yellow, blue; intensity, the purity and brightness of a color, e.g., bright red or dull red; and value, the lightness or darkness of a color.
Hue: a color’s name; a color in its pure form (without white or black added to it)
Intensity: The brightness and purity of a color (e.g. the more neutral looking a color is, the less intense it is)
Value: the lightness or darkness of a hue (color).
Line: a continuous mark made on some surface by a moving point (pen, pencil, etc.)
Space: in flat, two-dimensional artworks, this is the area on the page that can be used either negatively (left blank) or positively (filled with elements of art). In three-dimensional artwork this is the available area that can be left empty or filled with objects.
Form: an object that is 3-dimensional (has depth, volume, height and width)
Texture: the way things feel, or look as if they might feel if touched.
Space: the distance or area between, around, above, below or within things
Principles of Art: the different ways that the elements of art can be used in a work of art. Principles are always created by the elements and are used to direct, attract, or appeal to the viewer’s eye in a work of art.
Balance: a way of arranging art elements to create a feeling of equilibrium or stability in a work
Emphasis: the size relationships between parts of a whole, or the size relationship between an object and its surroundings.
Contrast: a way of combining the elements to emphasize the differences between those elements; this helps to make a work of art eye-catching
Unity: the look and feel of wholeness or oneness in a work of art; created by using similar elements throughout an artwork to help unite all parts of the work
Variety: combinations of different elements to create diversity in a work
Gradation: the size relationships between parts of a whole, or the size relationship between an object and its surroundings.
Movement: the look and feeling of action; guides the viewer’s eye throughout the work of art
Rhythm: the use of repeated elements in a work of art to cause a visual tempo or beat.
Proportion: the size relationships between parts of a whole, or the size relationship between an object and its surroundings.
Color Schemes (ways to combine colors) in Works of Art:
Primary: the three basic colors (red, yellow, blue) that cannot be made from other colors.
Secondary: the three colors made by combining two primary colors (orange, green, violet)
Tertiary: . colors made by mixing a primary color with a secondary color (red-orange, blue-green, red-violet, etc.)
Triad: a color scheme that uses 3 colors that are equidistant on the color wheel (red, yellow and blue; orange, green and violet; red-violet, yellow-orange, blue-green; etc.)
Complementary: colors directly opposite each other on the color wheel. (When mixed they form neutral colors; when placed side by side without being mixed, complementary colors make each other look more intense)
Analogous: colors that are closely related because they are next to each other on the color wheel (ex: red, red-orange and orange)
Monochromatic: a color scheme that consists only of a single color, and different values of that color that are created by adding white or black to it (ex: red, light red and dark red)
Warm Colors: colors that suggest warmth. These are colors that contain red, orange and yellow. Warm colors tend to look like they come forward in a work.
Cool Colors: colors often associated with water, sky, spring, and foliage (leaves) and suggest coolness; contain blue and green and appear opposite the warm colors on the color wheel. Cool colors tend to recede in a work of art.
Mixed Color Scheme: a combination of two or more of the other color schemes.
Talking About Art: The Elements and Principles of Art, Color Schemes, and Useful Vocabulary
Elements of Art:
the tools, basic components, or building blocks that artists use when creating art. Elements are used to create the principles of art (see below).
Principles of Art:
the different ways that the elements of art can be used in a work of art. Principles are always created by the elements and are used to direct, attract, or appeal to the viewer’s eye in a work of art.
Color Schemes (ways to combine colors) in Works of Art: